Erica Marshall is the manager of the ACLU of Delaware’s Campaign for Smart Justice. Dubard McGriff is the Smart Justice community organizer.

On Nov. 7, the Department of Correction began moving Delaware inmates out of the James T Vaughn Correctional Center to SCI Camp Hill, a prison outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The move, which will eventually include some 330 people, is an effort to manage our chronically understaffed prisons.

Overcrowded conditions have resulted in reduced rehabilitative programming. And no one can ignore the February 2017 murder of Lt. Steven Floyd, which the review commission attributed to severely deteriorated conditions for prisoners and adverse working conditions for the prison staff.

The transfer of prisoners out of state is a short-term answer to a crisis that has been obvious for years. So it is disappointing that Gov. John Carney has not been more invested in reducing the number of inmates we detain.

Dubard McGriff a community organizer with the ACLU of Delaware's Campaign for Smart Justice.(Photo: Submitted by ACLU of Delaware)

Instead, his response is to send prisoners — Delaware fathers, brothers, and sons — far away from family and friends who can help rehabilitate them.

Families report that their loved ones will be classified into Pennsylvania’s system and then possibly moved to other prisons. They tell us that, without notice, officers woke the men the morning of the move and told them to pack their things.

For at least 15 days after the move, they are in a “black out,” meaning they will have no contact with the outside.

These families are scared. One inmate's wife told us she is afraid that the hundred-mile distance to Camp Hill will sever the relationship between her three young sons and their father. She has no car and saves gas money to pay a family member to drive her and the children the 37 miles to Vaughn each month. She said, “They will be devastated when they find out they will not see their father for Thanksgiving this year.”

Family members also worry about their loved one’s safety in a new prison with new people and procedures. This fear is justified.

In 2017, Vermont contracted with Pennsylvania to accept up to 250 inmates. Three of these inmates died in custody after only 16 months. Vermont canceled its contract with Pennsylvania in 2018, following months of criticism about the conditions at SCI Camp Hill. Instead, they opted to send their prisoners to a for-profit prison in Mississippi.

We understand why the state may view this transfer as a short-term answer to their staffing problem. But there are better options than shipping our prisoners out of state.

We could immediately reduce the number of inmates by reviewing those in pre-trial detention. At any given time, there are about 1,000 people held that have not yet been convicted of any crime. At least some of these people are not dangerous and are only incarcerated because they are poor and cannot afford bail.

Reviewing the bail of people with minor charges could reduce short-term overcrowding.

Another option is compassionate release. As of 2017, 281 prisoners were 61 years of age or older. Sixty-one of them were 71 years or older. People “age out” of criminal behavior, meaning that elderly prisoners pose small risks to the community.

Indeed, we already allow for such early release by law based on case-by-case review. But we don't use it.

Delaware is at a crossroads. We incarcerate at a rate higher than 36 other states, and at a rate 81 percent higher than New Jersey.

Over the last decade, several states have reduced their prison populations and preserved or improved public safety. Reforms include less use of money bail, increased diversion and treatment options, early release programs, investment in data-driven programs, and the reduction of mandatory minimum sentences.

Delaware has taken a few tentative steps towards criminal justice reform, but there is more we must do.

Neither the long-term reforms nor the immediate alternatives that we propose are easy. Our state institutions would have to cooperate, from Attorney General Matt Denn’s prosecution decisions on the front end to the Department of Correction Commissioner Perry Phelps' probation policies on the back end. It is exactly the sort of problem that demands leadership from the governor to move everyone towards a shared goal.

We urge Governor Carney to stop this transfer and solve our real problem—that we have too many people in prison.